Fresh Starts
by Ocimi
Summary: A wolf wakes up one day next to Issun and Ammy, finding out she had markings and powers like Ammy. She joins in the epic adventure.
1. Chapter 1

"OOOOOH NOOOOOO!" I yelped as I fell through the air landing with a loud splash.

"Bah! You idiot!" a voice barked at me. I bowed my head in shame and crawled out of the water sopping wet.

"I'm sorry..." I mumbled, tail between legs. I don't know why I even bothered talking he couldn't understand me and I wasn't going to get out of what was to come anyway.

"Ugh, useless... Stay outside till you dry, mutt." He pointed sternly before walking into the warmth of the house, leaving me outside wet and cold. Oh well not much I can do now anyway.

"Aiyana..." I turned in a full circle trying to find the source of the voice. "Aiyanna..." I couldn't see anything so I dismissed it and turned to the little patch of dry ground left after my little hunt gone wrong ended with me floating down a fast moving river. I curled up and next thing I knew I was asleep.

* * *

"Gah!" I heard next to me as I stirred and opened my eyes. The site surprised me so much I jumped up and fell backwards onto my back in fear. Apparently missing an entire conversation between a white wolf with crimson markings and a little... bug thing? I have no idea really.

"Hey! You weird looking dog!" I automatically turn and as I turn the little bug thing jumps on my nose and studies my face. "What are you doing here?"

"You know, bug creature, I could ask you the same thing." I mumbled.

"I'm not a bug!" He yelled in my face, causing me to flinch back almost automatically. "What's your problem?" The wolf next to me came over and sniffed me before wagging her tail.

"O-Oh! Hello great goddess Amaterasu!" I bowed slightly.

"No need to be so formal, Aiyana!" I heard and looked up into Amaterasu's eyes and saw the smile and trusting look.

"Okay!" I barked. The little bug bounced on my nose again.

"I am the great wandering artist Issun! You've already met Ammy there, she is the sun goddess." I made a mental note to call her Ammy.

"Hello I am Aiyana... I'm a wolf that's all I know." They both gave me weird looks. "...What?"

"You have marking like Ammy and a weapon... didn't you know?" Issun asked looking confused.

"N-No... Sorry..." I couldn't help but feel nervous and tuck my tail between my legs.

"You sure are a cowardly wolf, aren't you?"

"I-I'm sorry!" I asked getting flustered. Ammy turned to me and just let out a woof before turning and gesturing for me to follow her. I quickly scurried down the path after her, Issun hanging onto my ears.


	2. Chapter 2

_**I do not own Okami**_

* * *

"A what!" I barked in surprise.

"A brush god. You have a brush on the end of your tail, right? So try to use it on that tree. Just draw a straight line across the tree and it'll be cut in half by the power slash." Feeling unsure of the truth of this I turned to Ammy, seeing her nod in encouragement. Still not sure, I had to ask a very important question.

"Where does the ink come from...?" The question caused a silence to pass between the three of us before Issun shrugged his tiny shoulders and gestured me to the tree.

"Just... focus and use your tail to draw a line. I promise it'll work!" Ammy cheered me on. I took a deep and unsure breath and turned to the tree. I made my tail raise up and with a quick flick across it the tree suddenly toppled over the side. I nearly fainted from surprise. It had actually worked!

"What the heck! I don't understand..." I told them glancing over to the tree to see if I had been imagining things. They just shrugged and told me it was time to go. Where I had no idea I wasn't paying attention long enough to hear it. "Where are we going anyhow?" I asked jogging to catch up.

"We have to go to the village, to make sure everyone is okay." Issun said bouncing on my nose before he bounced onto my head and sat, holding onto my fur. I nodded my head and took off after Ammy.

"You never answered, by the way."

"Answered what?" Issun asked.

"Where does the ink come from?"

"Oh... you have the divine instruments and strange markings similar to Ammy's so I'm assuming that you probably have some weird goddess magic like she does."

"It's not goddess magic Issun." Ammy huffed. I just shook my head, a wolf smirk on my face. We continued on our journey as Ammy caught me up on what had happened. She and Issun had managed to get power slash and cut down the fruit hanging on the guardian tree.

"Oh, so we are going to check on the villagers to make sure they are okay! I get it." When we got to the village we headed first to the turnip field.

"What in the world? I don't remember there being a statue here... Well, whatever. Let's go talk to the villagers!" Issun said. Me and Ammy looked at each other before walking towards the tree.

"Hey, there's a statue here too... It's like all the villagers turned to stone or something..." A loud and terrifying roar echoed around us. "Not Again! That's not one of those smaller monsters lurking about. Lets hurry and find someone with a pulse around here!" Ammy and I looked at each other again.

"This is weird..." I said. She nodded her head and we walked towards a field. In the field a person-like statue stood.

"No good. This one ain't movin'. Everyone here was perfectly fine just a few hours ago! There's definitely something strange goin' on around here. The village is back, but what's up with this dark sky? Maybe it's dark outside the village too? Let's find some high ground so we can take a look!" Ammy and I nodded, this was serious and we needed some answers. We headed back to where we came from but came up to a fork in the road. We went down a path I've never been down and came across a sun deck.

"This is bad... The sun isn't even shining! It's black as night as far as the eye can see. And not a single villager can move a muscle... Is it some kind of curse? Did a monster do this? It's not going to stay like this forever, is it? If only the sun were out to light our way... If you could draw a circle in the sky we'd have ourselves a sun! But I guess that'd be impossible, even for a god like you Ammy."

"Wait! Issun! doesn't her name mean sun god?" I asked.

"You're right... Try it Ammy!" Issun said. I cheered her on as she drew a circle. The sun suddenly appeared and blinded us.

"Wow, that is one nice sun Ammy." I grumbled shielding my eyes.

"Well, good job Ammy. Let's get back to the village. We gotta see if the villagers are back to normal now." I agreed and we were going to go but got interrupted by a voice.

"Hm? Who are you?" We turned towards the sound and spotted an orange being tossed up into the air. We watched as it fell and saw it landed on an old mans head. He bounced it again and then spoke. "A white and brown wolf! Not the two who fought that terrible creature with Nagi! You, white wolf, couldn't possibly be the legendary Shiranui! And you, brown wolf, couldn't be his companion Amaya! No, it can't be... That story is 100 years old. Still you look a lot like those statues... On the other hand, you don't look as smart..." I took offense to that, as did Ammy. We crouched down and growled, but not because of Mr. Orange.

"Wh-Wh-Whoa! No need to growl like that!" He yiped and started do weird movements with his arms and legs. "Can you really understand what I am saying?" He asked skeptically. "Well... I'm not one to mince words. I just state the facts." The Imps on the cliffs all hopped a little closer. "Hm? What is this sudden chill down my spine?"

"Here they come furball... Those are the monsters that have plaguing these lands. They sneak into villages and cause all sorts of trouble! Step aside, furBall! this is a job for my trusty sword, Denkomaru!" Issun said, pulling his sword out and pointing it at the imps. Ammy quickly grabbed the old man as the imps jumped for him, swinging him around hitting the imps sending them flying. She then threw the old man to safety, but not before the orange he was bouncing before landed back on his head. I growled menacingly and moved closer, attacking two of the imps with one quick slash of power slash. I turned to one of the imps and slashed him with my weapon. The second imp raised his flute and spat something at me. I felt it lodge into my side and yelped.

"Aiyanna! Are you okay?" Ammy asked killing the third imp. I nodded and attacked the second imp again, causing him to collapse to the ground dead.

"Ouch..." I growled out under my breath. There was a swish of air and the dry little puddle we passed by earlier filled up with water and tree sprouted, as if they were hidden before by the imps presence. A chest appeared next to the pond. Issun bounced over and held out a holy bone for me to eat. A quickly ate it and felt my wound heal almost instantly. I nodded my thanks and turned to Ammy.

"Wow you guys get agrressive when mad, don't ya? Hey! We got ourselves some praise! It can help us in the future if you guys get enough. It helps gods increase their life tolerance to wounds, basically we can make our wallers bigger, our life be less easy to take, our ink max ammount can be increased or we can use it to help our astral pouch. And the way the flowers sprouted up, some people call that divine intervention. It happens when you rid the world of monsters." Issun's speech ended. I figured they must have gotten the pouch when I was asleep. Issun then offered to show us around the village.

"I have a feeling this will be an epic adventure! This will be fun furballs!" Issun cheered as we walked off the sundeck. We beelined it for the chest and opened it to find a feedbag full of seeds.

I guess we can feed birds now.


	3. Chapter 3

I heard Ammy talking to a merchant who complained that he could not move the boulder and that he felt weird, like his body would not cooperate with his mind. Suddenly a weird wall came up with dark colors moving around it and I hear a menacing growl behind me. Acting on instinct I turned and swung my weapon towards the sound. I heard the moan of pain coming from the attacker and growled. I wanted to try something, I used my tail and watched as power slash cut the imp in two, flowers spiraled around the imps corpse as it flew through the air and disappeared leaving only a flower in it's place.

"That was interesting, I guess I do know how to fight." I heard Issun snicker and felt him bounce on my head.

"Good job, you and furball make a good team!" I shook my head and looked to Ammy to see what to do next.

"I guess we should-" She started only to be cut off by the merchant.

"Ah... I feel light as a feather now! Sadly, this does not make it any easier to shift this boulder. Who went and blocked the only path out of here anyway? There's no way I can get back to the city now. Say, pups, your owner lives here in this village right? So you must know that guy,

Susano. Can you get him to come here? They say he is the descendant of the legendary hero, Nagi! If anyone can do something about this rock, it's him!" The merchant ranted. Issun bounced on my head and looked troubled.

"That's funny... This boulder wasn't here before..." He mumbled.

"Should we go and get Susano?" I asked. Ammy nodded. "You know... Maybe you guys go get him and I'll go see if the villagers need help." Ammy agreed and took off. I turned around and noticed the area was restored. I started my walk into the village and spotted a wrecked mill. I recalled Ammy once telling me that we had rejuvenation as a brush technique so I figured I'd try it. I used my tail to fill in the parts where the mill was broken and watched in awe as the mill was repaired started to spin. Kushi, the girl who makes the sake in the village apparently, walked over in surprise.

"What's this?! Who on earth did that? I'd completely given up on the idea of making my sake. But now I can get on with polishing rice! Well! No time like the present! I better get started!" She said to me before turning and walking inside. I heard a commotion and saw Ammy racing towards the boulder with an enraged Susano on her back, I chuckled and continued on my way. I noticed an old lady staring at where her drying pole should be. I used my tail and watched her gasp in surprise. She hung her laundry up and mumbled something about wishing the sun was closer. Figuring that there was no time like the present to practice my brush techniques I tried to use sunrise.  
I watched as the old lady clapped and danced and promise cherry cakes to the gods. I made a mental note to go to her house and see if she'll feed me any. I saw a dog and a boy and made my way over there.

"Hello, dog." I said wagging my tail he barked in my direction and moved away a little. I moved forward, he moved back, I ran at him and he ran away. Our game of chase was fun but soon the kid stopped me to tell me to leave his dog alone, that he was the digging king.

"Oh yeah?" I grumbled knowing he couldn't understand me. I ran to his moms field and almost instantly she hit me with her paper.

"Don't dig up my field!" She bellowed at me. I smirked a wolf smirk and ran to the opposite end and started digging. She charged at me but I dodged and ran to the other side, repeating this over and over I finally dug the last one up. It was a weird shape so i drug it over to the boy. After finally admitting defeat and awarding me the name "Digging Queen" he proudly proclaimed that he and Hayabusa, the dog, would defeat me yet. I laughed and turned to walk to the boulder feeling as though enough time had passed.


End file.
